HOME - AT LAST !!!

Yes, here we are in Long Beach once again after a very eventful flight home yesterday! It took 24 hours from leaving Davinia's house in London to walking in the door in Long Beach....we didn't expect it to take nearly as long as it took us to get to Siberia at the start of the trip!

We got to the London airport with plenty of time to spare so as to keep tranqil (?) but things didn't stay that way. We were all ready to get on the plane when they announced that there was a 'small' problem and they were trying to fix it....and trying to fix it....and then looking for a spare part....and then said it was to do with the pilot's seat and that the part would have to come from Washington DC and that that would take 10 hours!! So, the next news was that we would all be put up in a hotel and the flight would continue on the next day....NOT. The flight was finally cancelled and we had to check out our bags and then check in again to see what bookings they could find for us before putting everyone up in hotels in the area. However, we were some of the fortunte ones (?) because they put us on another flight that was leaving later in the day but it would take us via Washington DC so it would be later in getting into LA. So to finish off the day nicely...this flight also had some technical problems and we were an hour late in leaving!! Then, after about 1/2 our hour into the flight an older gentlemen started having heart attacks or something so there was an emergency and they were looking for a doctor on board. We feared we would be turned around but fortunately they were able to keep him on oxygen for the whole flight and the paramedics got him off the plane in Washington DC.
As if that wasn't enough our flight out of DC was delayed by another problem and we didn't arrive in LA until 12.30 this morning feeling quite weary but thankful to see Jon's smiling face on arrival. We managed to get to bed at 2 a.m. but were wide awake again at 6 a.m. - oh the fun of jetlag.

So, the first day home has been full of unpacking, washing and grocery shopping. Everything seems to be fine here and Jon has done a good job of keeping the 'homefront' up and running. Jon leaves home on Oct 9th for an 8 week training course near Boston so we will miss him but are glad he has this chance at a new job and we trust all will go well for him.